Recession-Hit Customers are "Playing Safe" with Indian Food - says Dilli

Altrincham’s Michelin-rated Indian restaurant, Dilli, is taking the biggest gamble of its life.

Because their new Christmas menu is going deeper into Dilli’s original promise to deliver the ‘true taste of India’ – despite a current trend for recession-hit customers to “play safe”.

“Maybe it’s a result of the general economic situation, and people just not having as much money to spend, but they are becoming more reluctant to try new food,” says Dilli’s manager Pankaj Sharma. “They are more likely, these days, to re-order dishes that are familiar to them.

“And we are still asked about food that just doesn’t exist in India. New customers want to order madras curry and prawn rogan josh … dishes that are pure western invention.

“When we first opened Dilli the menu came as a shock to many of them, who were more used to the ‘Curry Mile’, but they grew to love it.”

So did press reviewers on local and national newspapers. The restaurant won awards, was included in the Michelin Guide and has just been recommended, again in the new edition of the 2013 Good Food Guide.

“Our regular customers have become more savvy about Indian food,” says Pankaj. “When they tried something different, and liked it, we knew they would come back. But these days many newcomers don’t want to be adventurous and are more reluctant to try something new that they’ve never heard of.

“We could bend our rules to give them what they expect but that is not what Dilli is all about. We want to serve the real thing to people who already know the difference and to excite people who don’t.

“It may be a risky decision … but time will tell.”

• Dilli – the original name for India’s capital city New Delhi - is open every day from 12 noon to 3pm, and 5.30pm to 11pm (10pm on Sunday) at 60 Stamford New Road, Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 1EE. Telephone 0161 929 7484. Website: www.dilli.co.uk

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Posted: Friday 23rd November 2012
ID: 2395 - 850